2^nd Sunday of Stewardship Campaign October 17, 2010 “The Prodigal's Plan” Reverend Michael D. Powell Luke 15:11-19

If you know the story of the Prodigal Son you probably recognized that our scripture reading this morning stopped short of the punch line. As the story opens the prodigal is impatient, has no sense of delayed gratification, so takes an advance on his inheritance. He squanders it all and gets totally stressed when he bottoms out. The story continues by telling us that, broke and ashamed, he comes home with his tail between his legs, ready to beg forgiveness. The wonderful part of the story is that his father forgives him and we are left to assume that he lives happily ever after, but I left that part of the story out this morning. That’s because I want to talk about the feelings of stress and anxiety we experience when we find ourselves hitting bottom. Some of you may never have felt that, but there are others among us who have, so let’s just stay with those painful, unsettling feelings for a moment.

The most powerful depiction that exists of the prodigal’s grief is by Rodin. This sculpture, originally featured in a larger work entitled 'The Gates of Hell,' during the 1880's developed into an independent sculpture known variously as “The Prodigal,” and “Child of the Century.”

Rodin's sculpture shows the returned adolescent crying out his misery in a moment of despair and doubt, begging for forgiveness, still unsure if his family will accept him home again. Compared to more traditional depictions of the prodigal, which place the errant youth in his father's solacing arms, Rodin does not anticipate the happy end. Like in 'The Scream,' by Edvard Munch, who was very familiar with Rodin's art, there is no one present to hear modern man's cry of anguish and anxiety.

Last seek I talked about how the American Dream of financial peace and security has become a nightmare for many people these days. There’s plenty of blame to go around for how we got into this mess, but when it really comes down to it, we’re the only ones who can actually do anything about our own financial situation, no matter who’s to blame. I’ve talked with enough people to know that lots of us, even responsible elder brother types, identify with the prodigal son’s situation.

From Jesus’ description, we see that the prodigal son had some bad spending habits. In fact, the very word prodigal is defined as someone who spends money recklessly, with wasteful extravagance. I’m reasonably sure that not many of us would put ourselves in that category, but when I see the popularity of Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace program, with church signs advertising classes all over town, I have to conclude that a lot of people are looking for ways to get off the treadmill of consumerism and simplify their lifestyle.

I’ll be personal for a moment. Thankfully, Anni and I are not struggling like we have in the past. We’ve never abused our credit cards. We save for special projects, we pledge to our church, and we give toward other charitable causes. It still seems like we live from paycheck to paycheck, and there’s never quite enough to do some of the things we’d like to do, but, like many of you, we’re basically doing okay. Having said that, I’ve noticed something that I find interesting; I’ve noticed that if we get a little extra money, it has a way of disappearing. When we were starting out together, and for more years that I care to remember, we struggled to make ends meet. If I had a twenty dollar bill in my wallet, I knew I had a twenty dollar bill, and I made it stretch. But somehow twenty dollars isn’t what it used to be. Have you noticed that too? Sometimes it just seems like money flows through my fingers and I forget where it went. I’ll only speak for myself and not Anni, but I have a sneaking suspicion that I might even be guilty of wasting money sometimes. Sometimes I look back and ask myself, Where did it all go?

I don’t think any of us are as careful with our money as we used to be. We can live for today and get away with it for awhile, until an unexpected expense comes along, like a surgery, a big medical bill, the furnace or the car breaking down, you name it. Anni and I spent thousands of dollars trying to keep our big dog, Indi, alive and comfortable. Years ago we simply would not have been able to do that, but I’m thankful we had the resources to do it for Indi. You all have your own personal examples. These things come up, sometimes the old credit cards come out, and the rest is history.

Adam Hamilton is the pastor of the largest United Methodist Church in the country, and he has plenty of money. He’s basically a humble guy, and he’s preached and written books on responsible stewardship, but still he confesses that he’s a prodigal at times. Two of his biggest temptations are impulse buying and eating out. So now, when he sees something that catches his eye, he tries to discipline himself to wait twenty four hours before purchasing it. “I’m amazed at how many things I decide I really don’t need after waiting twenty four hours. Try it for yourself,” he writes. “If you’ll just put the brakes on for one day before buying any impulse item, you’ll be amazed by how much money you will save.”(all quotes are from Hamilton’s book, Enough: Discovering Joy Through Simplicity and Generosity)

The other money waster he’s identified in his own life is eating out. And he’s quick to say, “Now, I’m not suggesting that you should never eat out. I’m simply saying that perhaps we eat out too often and the only thing we have to show for it is a spare tire around the waist.”

This may not seem like a spiritual issue, and perhaps some of you are uncomfortable having me talk about personal finances in church, but Hamilton brings it home by asking some very important questions: “What is your life about? Why do you exist? Do you exist simply to consume as much as you can and get as much pleasure as you can? Or do you have a higher purpose? How do you understand your life purpose – your vision or mission or calling? Are you spending your money in ways that are consistent with this life purpose?”

Experience and observation have convinced Hamilton that many of us are not only prodigal in our spending, but we’ve also not taken the time to think about our life purpose. By default, our society tells us that our life purpose is to follow the prodigal’s plan - to consume, to make as much money as possible and to blow as much money as possible. But surely we know that cannot be right.

I’ve been talking for months about how we are blessed, and how we were created to be a blessing. I believe that, and I believe that you do too, or else you wouldn’t be here. We are followers of Jesus Christ, and Christ teaches us to love God and to love our neighbors as ourselves. Jesus Christ teaches that our life purpose is to glorify God, to seek justice and to do mercy. To be a Christian is to follow Jesus Christ and seek to do his will in our lives. As United Methodists we have an honored guideline for discovering our life purpose. In 1780 John Wesley wrote a very profound and beautiful covenant prayer that has been used in Methodist liturgy ever since, but is rarely prayed today:

I am no longer my own, but thine.
Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed by thee or laid aside for thee,
exalted for thee or brought low for thee.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things
to thy pleasure and disposal.
And now, O glorious and blessed God,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
thou art mine, and I am thine. So be it.
And the covenant which I have made on earth,
let it be ratified in heaven.

Amen.

I believe that our life purpose is found in pursuing something bigger than our personal, prodigal plan of self-satisfaction. Obviously, money plays a huge role in all our lives, but money can never be an end in itself. Money is a vitally important tool to be used to accomplish the greater purpose God has for our lives.

A big part of my own life purpose, and I’m sure the same is true for many of you, is to care for my family. I use the largest percentage of my income to do that. Another part of my life purpose is to proclaim my belief in Jesus Christ through the local church, and Anni and I give of our time and energy, our talents, and our tithes and offerings to help do that. We believe a part of our life purpose is to reach out with the hands of Christ to help others, and our United Methodist apportionments, as well as service opportunities through this local church, provide us with the means to do that. Every one of us is called to be a blessing to others. We have a life purpose that is greater than our own comfort, pleasure or self interest, and how we spend our God given resources reflects our understanding and commitment to our life purpose.

Hamilton believes in the biblical tithe, which means giving 10% of his income for the work of Christ. But he says that it is impossible to tithe without very deliberately making a plan. He suggests that the way to work our way up to a tithe is by increasing our giving to the church by whatever percentage we can budget until gradually, over the years, we work up to the biblical tithe of 10%. But even then, for larger givers and tithers, and Hamilton himself is in this group, he suggests that his own spiritual growth compels him to make a quarter to a half percent increase per year. When we look at it like that, it seems doable, doesn’t it? A failure to plan, Hamilton believes, is a plan to fail. It will just disappear without a trace. That’s the prodigal’s plan.

He makes several suggestions for planning and I won’t take the time to share them all here, but I would like to pass along just three of them this morning.

1. Pay your tithe and offering first.

2. Simplify your lifestyle (live below your means)

3. Pay off your credit cards, and use credit wisely. (Plastic surgery!)

The words, “Discovering Joy Through Simplicity and Generosity,” is more than a theme, it’s a promise that’s made from the heart of God to every human heart, whenever we covenant to put God first in our living and our giving. Thank God for the blessings we have received, and may we be a blessing, in Christ’s name. Amen.